As Metro demolishes houses along Wheeler Street to prepare for construction of a new rail line, the issue of closing Cullen Boulevard comes back into play.
As part of the University’s master plan, the section of Cullen between Holman and Cougar Place is supposed to be closed and replaced with a pedestrian mall that would beautify the campus and help improve pedestrian safety, among other things. Given the atrocious condition of Cullen, it’s time that we revisited the timeline for the street closure.
At a UH Board of Regents meeting held May 17, 2007, a proposed timeline for the closure of Cullen was outlined as follows:
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- June 2007: City transfers ownership of Holman and Cullen to UH
- June 2008: traffic gates installed
- July 2008-August 2008: soft closure begins
- Permanent closure: To be announced
To this day, the date for the permanent closure remains a mystery. Installation of those traffic gates and implementation of a soft closure are apparently behind schedule.
With 2010 fast approaching, it would be wise for the Board of Regents to take up this issue again; the ride down Cullen Boulevard isn’t getting any smoother.
Fixing the street is no longer an option since it’s going to be closed. It’s also understandable that closing the street and redirecting traffic will take some time and money (an estimated $1.8 million, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordination Board’s 2007 report on campuses’ master plans). Therefore, no one will expect Cullen to be transformed into a mall within the next few months.
However, it would be beneficial for the University to provide an update on the status of the plan to close Cullen. Students and UH employees need to know whether the original proposal has been scrapped. If so, fresh details should be provided.
Students and UH employees who frequently drive down Cullen would probably appreciate the gesture.
